Here’s the deal though. It seems like a cop-out. If a 92% failure rate were a strong-enough deterrent, half the start-ups would never be founded in the first place.

During my time in New York as part of the Fellowship training, I was introduced to a beautiful word, that has stayed with me ever since – intention. Such a simple word, but if you ponder long enough, it really allows you to establish a strong foundation or a theme for your actions, without the inevitability of failure or disappointment being an endpoint. An intention, if spelled out well, forms a bedrock of purpose but at the same time, leaves room for failure, experimentation and iteration. It allows us to remain grounded in reality while being aspirational enough to break mental and physical barriers. Marathon vs Sprint kinda thing…

Inspired by the intent behind the word, I decided to set an intention for 2018. Actually two.

One is accountability, and two, more action less talk.

Showing up, when you don’t want to, is hard. Blaming someone else or something outside your control for your failure to ship is easy. Hence accountability. Note that I said failure to ship, and not failure to succeed.

It is human tendency to hide behind the cover of perfectionism or structure or efficiency. But the very nature of resilience rests on the assumption of ambiguity and possible failure. And the only way to build anything is to practice. Hence, more action less talk.

I’m about 9 days late to the party, but I hope this year is filled with resolute intentions for you as well.